Guys, I swear I'm going to try really hard to get back in the game here really soon, but Declan has had a good ol' fashioned case of colic and it's been kicking my butt. He turns TWO MONTHS OLD today and seems to be (knock on wood) turning a corner. But for now, thanks for being patient with the archived posts!! And humor me by oohing and aahing over my little men. I am so lucky to have a photographer for a brother in law.
Ok, enough about me. Onto an easy way to make stockings!
I need to start off this post with another confession. This is one tidbit of information I generally keep to myself because I'm not proud of it.
I am OCD about coordinated Christmas decorations.
There, I said it.
I know, you're scratching your head wondering what the big deal is...but if you have kids, imagine all the sweet little handmade ornaments that come home from daycare, church and school...and imagine those sweet little handmade ornaments hung on a tree that has been painstakingly color coordinated.
Yeah, it doesn't happen
I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. This makes me, like, the world's worst and most uncaring mother. I am ashamed!!! But I cannot help it! I HAVE to have a beautifully decorated and coordinated tree. When my now almost 11 year old was younger, I bought a small artificial tree to display all his special ornaments on. Fortunately, he thought it was awesome and so did I! It also sadly means that all of my husband's Tar Heel and Carolina Panthers ornaments get left alone and sad in their boxes when Christmas rolls around. Ok, add bad wife to bad mother.
So now that you all hate me and think I'm a bad person, let's move on.
I've been obsessed with neutrals lately. I'm normally a person who loves color (I once painted my bedroom a vibrant teal!) but this year I want to be surrounded by white furniture, calming neutrals and the occasional pop of color. My tree this year is white and silver with some red. My new love of neutrals presented a problem with stockings. And surfing Pinterest did nothing to cure me of my neutrals addiction:
I saw some white stockings at JoAnn's earlier this month, but they were $20 a piece - which I did not want to spend. So, I did what I had to do - I took matters into my own hands and created new stockings for the family that showcased a beautiful white quilted fabric and the burlap I love so much. There are a lot of complicated stocking patterns out there on the web, y'all. So let me share with you what I did.
1. I took a stocking we currently had, traced around it on the fabric I liked.
2. Place the right sides together, fold the top of each side down like a cuff and pin it with the wrong sides facing out.
3. Sew around the stocking, using a decorative stitch at the bottom of the cuff that was folded down (the stocking will still be inside out at this point, but I didn't have a picture of this step)
4. Turn the stocking right side out
5. I had a bunch of bias tape I never use, so I actually used this to make the loops and sewed them onto the stocking
6. I also had a handful of pretty, white snowflake ornaments that I bought at Target (4/$1) I used a safety pin to pin these to each stocking - this way the embellishment can be changed out year after year
7. Bought the white, glittery letter for 99 cents a piece at Michaels and hot glued an initial to the snowflake
That's it, folks. Honestly the hardest part was sewing the curve around the toe area - which is why each stocking is a little different :) I'll pretend that it's homemade charm!
Now - I am in the process of making 2 more stockings that will go up there when I'm done. That's a LOT of stockings. And stocking holders are stupid pricey. So after seeing this pin...
...I went in search of something similar. I already had an adjustable tension rod laying around, and decided that I would use it to hang my stockings with. I can easily fit 6 stockings on this rod. I found the silver Command hooks at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $4.99 a piece (MUCH cheaper than stocking holders!)
Christmas Crazy math: $20x6 stockings = $120
$10 (ish) a piece for stocking holders = $60
______________________
$180 for stockings/holders. INSANE.
Miranda Math: $20 for 2 yards of white quilted fabric
$0 for burlap (already had)
$0 for bias tape (already had)
$0 for snowflake ornaments (already had)
$6 for 6 glitter initials
$0 for tension rod
$8 for 2 Command hooks
____________________
Total Cost: $34 for 6 stockings and holders
TA DA.
Yes, I'm proud. Very, very proud.
Ok, enough about me. Onto an easy way to make stockings!
---------------------------------------------------
I am OCD about coordinated Christmas decorations.
There, I said it.
I know, you're scratching your head wondering what the big deal is...but if you have kids, imagine all the sweet little handmade ornaments that come home from daycare, church and school...and imagine those sweet little handmade ornaments hung on a tree that has been painstakingly color coordinated.
Yeah, it doesn't happen
I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. This makes me, like, the world's worst and most uncaring mother. I am ashamed!!! But I cannot help it! I HAVE to have a beautifully decorated and coordinated tree. When my now almost 11 year old was younger, I bought a small artificial tree to display all his special ornaments on. Fortunately, he thought it was awesome and so did I! It also sadly means that all of my husband's Tar Heel and Carolina Panthers ornaments get left alone and sad in their boxes when Christmas rolls around. Ok, add bad wife to bad mother.
So now that you all hate me and think I'm a bad person, let's move on.
I've been obsessed with neutrals lately. I'm normally a person who loves color (I once painted my bedroom a vibrant teal!) but this year I want to be surrounded by white furniture, calming neutrals and the occasional pop of color. My tree this year is white and silver with some red. My new love of neutrals presented a problem with stockings. And surfing Pinterest did nothing to cure me of my neutrals addiction:
I saw some white stockings at JoAnn's earlier this month, but they were $20 a piece - which I did not want to spend. So, I did what I had to do - I took matters into my own hands and created new stockings for the family that showcased a beautiful white quilted fabric and the burlap I love so much. There are a lot of complicated stocking patterns out there on the web, y'all. So let me share with you what I did.
1. I took a stocking we currently had, traced around it on the fabric I liked.
2. Place the right sides together, fold the top of each side down like a cuff and pin it with the wrong sides facing out.
3. Sew around the stocking, using a decorative stitch at the bottom of the cuff that was folded down (the stocking will still be inside out at this point, but I didn't have a picture of this step)
4. Turn the stocking right side out
5. I had a bunch of bias tape I never use, so I actually used this to make the loops and sewed them onto the stocking
6. I also had a handful of pretty, white snowflake ornaments that I bought at Target (4/$1) I used a safety pin to pin these to each stocking - this way the embellishment can be changed out year after year
7. Bought the white, glittery letter for 99 cents a piece at Michaels and hot glued an initial to the snowflake
That's it, folks. Honestly the hardest part was sewing the curve around the toe area - which is why each stocking is a little different :) I'll pretend that it's homemade charm!
Now - I am in the process of making 2 more stockings that will go up there when I'm done. That's a LOT of stockings. And stocking holders are stupid pricey. So after seeing this pin...
...I went in search of something similar. I already had an adjustable tension rod laying around, and decided that I would use it to hang my stockings with. I can easily fit 6 stockings on this rod. I found the silver Command hooks at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $4.99 a piece (MUCH cheaper than stocking holders!)
Christmas Crazy math: $20x6 stockings = $120
$10 (ish) a piece for stocking holders = $60
______________________
$180 for stockings/holders. INSANE.
Miranda Math: $20 for 2 yards of white quilted fabric
$0 for burlap (already had)
$0 for bias tape (already had)
$0 for snowflake ornaments (already had)
$6 for 6 glitter initials
$0 for tension rod
$8 for 2 Command hooks
____________________
Total Cost: $34 for 6 stockings and holders
TA DA.
Yes, I'm proud. Very, very proud.
